Pragelato, Italy – Dave Jarrett has known Todd Lodwick since Lodwick was 5 years old, and he’s thrilled about his longtime friend’s frame of mind as the first Olympic nordic combined event approaches.
Lodwick skipped a big chunk of the World Cup season to train at home in Steamboat Springs and attend the birth of his first child, Charley Jordan, on Dec. 29.
“He is as relaxed as I’ve ever seen him in a big competition,” said Jarrett, a former teammate and Olympian who now serves as an assistant coach on the U.S. Ski Team. “Having Charley has changed his perspective, as any new parent knows. There’s a lot more to life than nordic combined skiing and the Olympics. That’s a big thing, but so is being a dad.”
In the final World Cup events before his sabbatical, Lodwick finished second and fourth in Lillehammer, Norway. When he returned to Europe two weeks ago, he picked up right where he left off, finishing second and third at Seefeld, Austria.
“I think that scared a lot of people when I came back,” Lodwick said. “I feel confident, I feel really rested. It couldn’t go any better than it has.”
The first of two individual nordic combined events will be Saturday. Lodwick is a strong contender to win the first Olympic medal for an American nordic combined athlete in what will be his last Olympics at age 29.
“He’s a rare person who can take eight competitions off, then come back and almost win two in a row,” Jarrett said.
Steamboat’s Johnny Spillane will compete despite separating his shoulder in a jumping crash in November. He will have surgery in the spring.
“It’s not terribly painful anymore,” said Spillane, a 2003 world champion. “It’s achy, all through my back. It doesn’t hurt me so much as it makes me really tight. It’s actually affected my jumping more than my cross country. I’m so stiff I lose the flexibility and explosiveness you need for jumping.”
